Many outdoor lighting devices, such as street lamps, are operated from dusk until dawn using photoelectric cells having control units in electrical communication with the lamp. The control unit closes a switch and turns on the lamp when the intensity of incident light falling on a photoelectric sensor is below a pre-set value and turns off the lamp when the intensity of the light is above another pre-set value. Such control units are generally attached to the lamp using a connector that provides electrical contact between the photoelectric cell and the lamp, as well as physically attaching the photoelectric cell to the lamp.
Current connectors for use in these applications have a number of drawbacks. For example, current connectors require that wires leading to the lamp be crimped into a wire retention portion of the connector prior to final assembly of the connector. This makes assembly and installation more cumbersome and time consuming. Thus, the connector cannot be finally assembled until the installation site, unless the connector is assembled with the wires already attached, in which case the connector includes wires that must be wired to the lamp at the installation site.
Also, current connectors typically require multiple parts, in which the connector is attached to the lamp using a steel spring clip or some other snap-on type of clip that is separate from the connector and which must be separately manufactured, provided and assembled.
Furthermore, photoelectric cells are typically positioned to face a certain direction to uniformly control the amount of incident light hitting the photoelectric cell at various times of the day, and thus better control lamp operation. As a result, the cells typically need to be adjusted at the installation site, but once adjusted to a desired orientation, they remain at that position. However, current connectors do not adequately provide for these adjustments without lifting the entire connector from its current position and reinserting it at a new position.
These and other drawbacks are found in current photoelectric connectors.
What is needed is a connector that more provides for retention of wires without crimping and which provides for easier connector assembly. What is also needed is a photoelectric connector that can be more easily manufactured and assembled and which more easily permits adjustments in orientation at the installation site.